Ryan Harris mom tells of plea deal

Move would rule out execution, she says

Since 11-year-old Ryan Harris was found murdered nearly eight years ago, the girl's mother believed the death penalty was the only acceptable punishment for the killer. Now she says prosecutors have told her they are trying to orchestrate a plea deal that would eliminate that possibility for the man charged in the case.

Floyd Durr, 37, is set to go on trial May 1 for the murder and sexual assault of the girl, whose badly beaten body was found in an Englewood lot in August 1998.

Sabrina Harris--who has attended nearly all of Durr's court hearings since the Chicago man was charged with her daughter's murder--said that after a recent pretrial hearing, Assistant Cook County State's Atty. Robert Egan, said they are trying to avoid a trial.

"They were going to take the case to him for the plea. I guess they don't want to take a chance on a jury," Harris said. "I was so upset, I just left crying."

Harris said she was informed by Egan, the lead prosecutor in the case, that Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine signed off on the plan to approach defense lawyers with the deal, which would spare him the death penalty. Durr is serving 125 years in state prison on other rape convictions.

"We understand the family's anguish in this horrible case, but we are restrained from commenting on plea bargains until they are announced in court," said John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

But sources in the office confirmed that prosecutors would agree to avoid a trial if Durr accepts a sentence of life in prison. The sources confirmed that Sabrina Harris was notified of the decision.

"[The death penalty] is the only justice I see ... I feel the system isn't working for my daughter," Harris said.

Recently Durr's lawyers indicated that they might be open to a plea deal to avoid trial, the sources said.

Criminial Court Judge Stanley Sacks, who is hearing the case, would need to sign off on any deal, according to officials.

Sabrina Harris said Egan told her of the plan on Friday, following a competency hearing where Durr was found mentally fit to stand trial. But the sources said that in recent IQ exams Durr scored a 68 and a 59 making him ineligible to face the death penalty.

His lawyers have argued that Durr's IQ level was not high enough to face the death penalty as required by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled in 2002 that people with IQs below 70 are ineligible for the death penalty. In Illinois, a person must have an IQ of at least 75 to be eligible for the death penalty.

In court papers filed earlier this year, Durr's lawyers said doctors had determined Durr's IQ was between 59 and 65.

"I know absolutely that the state has filed a notice of intent to seek death and that the notice of intent is still there," Durr's lawyer Daniel Coyne said over the weekend. "I have no knowledge of any kind of a plea. I'm ready to go to trial."

On Monday Coyne reiterated that position. The next hearing in the case is set for Friday.